Killdozer were the first band that I was ever crazy about that I got to meet in person. Michael Gerald (vocalist) was in a math class at the University of Wisconsin with a friend of mine. I got to see one of their very first shows, and I bought their first record the moment it was available.

There was a time when their Little Baby Buntin' album was being played in my house once a day.

Boy, did I love that record.

Killdozer's records and live shows made me feel weird and uncomfortable and like I was briefly experiencing madness.

Killdozer records really constituted a dilemma to me, early on, in that Frank Booth/dead animal way - eerieness in a deathlock with fascination.

Then the first time I saw them was at Chicago's fine The Vic Theater, right after 12 Point Buck. To see that the tremendous,staggering presence of this band was steered by this skinny pissed off dude...

In my teens I convinced a DJ at Off The Alley (a teen nightclub (no longer in existence) located in Homewood, IL) to play Killdozer's cover of Janet Jackson's Nasty. You should have seen how quickly the dance floor was cleared.

without a doubt not crap. seeing them at o'cayz corral in madison was one of my first real exposure to underground music. it was completely baffling as a 19yr old kid from mid-michigan. completely re-wrote the book in my mind about what a band could be and how the operated.

michael gerald kept saying, "we're killdozer from madison, wisconsin. you really ought to go to madison sometime, it's a great place." i was lucky enough to see 3 of thier "last show ever" - 2 nights back to back in madison, and also at the empty bottle w/shellac on the "fuck you we quit" tours.

michael was in my friend's law school class at NYU a couple years ago. another friend saw him at a party and approached him with the idea of forming a killdozer tribute band where i'd play drums, my friend would play guitar, and michael would play bass and sing.

never seen them live. and i've only heard one album "God Hears the Pleas of the Innocent"... absolute fucking crap. it's like the same bad song, over and over. i realize people love the live show, say the singer's crazy and stuff... and i don't know about the rest of their albums, but this one album anyways is pretty much unlistenable. annoying. boring. repetative in a most non-cool way. makes me picture, if you took the Jesus Lizard and sucked all the life and talent out of the band, got them wasted, and put them in the studio. oh, and turned the suck knob *way* up.

On my birthday, in England, I got to play drums with Killdozer on the song "King of Sex" at the end of their last show in the U.K...There are so many NOT CRAP things about them, it bogles my mind someone would think they were Crap.

I'm originally from small rural town in Wisconsin, so Killdozer meant a lot to me. I now live in the Dairy State's biggest town and Killdozer still mean a lot to me.

When I was a lad, this lumbering sound and growling voice provided a soundtrack to corncob wars and sandbox floodings. Later on, it soundtracked alcoholic rituals and copulatory thrustings.

I first got to see Killdozer live at a Touch'n'Go showcase show in Green Bay, WI. Other bands featured were Shorty and the Jesus Lizard. I dig those bands, too, but Killdozer are closest to my heart. Yeah, it was the Greek guitarist era that some have griped about, but they were still fucking great.

Saw em' a couple of other times, including a time when my mom got me in to see them at the now-defunct Unicorn here in Milwaukee cause' I was under 21 at the time. I missed their last show ever at the same venue a year later, because I was still underage by a few months and my mom couldn't make it! I ended up spending that night in the lakeside shantytown of Manitowoc, Wi drinking Kingsbury Beer. Yarrrgggh!

I think the high points of their recording career are the "Burl" EP and the "Little Baby Buntin'" LP. Two of my favorite records of all time.

I must say that I find Michael Gerald's vocals to be one of the most comforting things on the planet. Not in some new-age wussy way, but more along the lines of some old drunk at the bar who says a lot of crazy shit, but is really a likeable guy full of stories and wit. Or an uncle who takes you fishing up north when you are 16 and lets you get drunk without telling your folks. Killdozer really calms me the fuck down when I'm ready to kill someone and for that I'm eternally grateful.

I'd like to see Michael Gerald spend his spare time (when not practicing maritime law) as a country/folk solo act.

The start of Cotton Bolls or whatever it's called - first track on Little Baby Buntin'...... AWESOME & PUMMELLING I believe it's known as.... one of the best openings of anything, ever.... and the cover of I Am, I Said.... good god.....I'm weeping as I type

Even God Hears the Pleas of the Innocent is quality. I don't they put out anything that was less then stellar. The weakest output was "Intellectuals are the Shoeshine Boys of the Ruling Elite." It's worth a look because it suggests the greatness they would later achieve.

It took may a minute to get to "Uncomprimising War on Art..." but it's worth the effort. Knuckles the Dog? Come on that's quality.

Having lived beyond the Cheddar Curtain for some time I think Killdozer embodies the Wisconsin cultural experience.

A couple years back I was in the Wisconsin Dells at a bar on the main drag that had a polka band with a mother-son rhythm section and the dad playing tuba. They were singing about fat girls, "you can keep her I don't want her".

Rick Reuschel wrote:A couple years back I was in the Wisconsin Dells at a bar on the main drag that had a polka band with a mother-son rhythm section and the dad playing tuba. They were singing about fat girls, "you can keep her I don't want her".

I used to call the T&G offices regularly just to hear Michael's voice on the other end.

The same thing when he worked at a travel agency, when he first moved to NYC.

This has been a stalker moment.

Back when CBGB had good shows, there was a Killdozer/Steel Pole Bath Tub/dis- show on my birthday. I think I was turning 24 or 25, and dammit I was going to have fun, despite the fact that my then-boyfriend had decided to forget my birthday (something that has happened more than once but that is another post for another day) and had one of the worst days of my life to date.

I was so happy to see Killdozer that night. As a short person, Michael Gerald gave me the courage to stand on a box while playing my instrument. They opened with "Hottentot" and all was right with the world.